In early 2008, Amy Ruiz was a reporter at the Portland Mercury news weekly when she confronted Sam Adams about his relationship with an 18-year-old man three years earlier.

By the end of the year, Ruiz had joined Adams' staff as a planning and sustainability policy adviser.

The two events have opened Adams and his staff to questions about whether Adams hired Ruiz -- who had no formal experience in planning, policy or as an analyst -- to stop her from digging deeper into the story.

Adams, his staff and Ruiz said Tuesday there was no connection between the two events and that Ruiz was simply the best candidate among 10 they interviewed.

Adams said he left all the hiring work to his chief of staff, Tom Miller. Adams said the first he knew about Ruiz's application came when he saw her in the office. "Why is Amy Ruiz in the office?" Adams recalled asking Miller when she was there for a job interview.

Ruiz stopped reporting the story in late spring 2008 after she hit a dead end. On Oct. 27, Adams advertised the position, saying he "strongly preferred" applicants with two years' experience in urban planning or a related field.

Ruiz, 28, has a bachelor's degree in communications from Seattle University. She sent in her application Nov. 3 and interviewed for the position twice with Adams' staff, including once with Miller. Miller said he told Adams he wanted to hire Ruiz. Adams' response, according to Miller: "Great. Do what you do."

"There was no hesitation on his part," Miller said.

They offered her the job, and she accepted on Dec. 22. The job pays $55,000 year, about a 30 percent pay raise from Ruiz's previous job.

Miller declined to release the names of the two other finalists out of concern for their privacy.

Although Portland is packed with urban planners looking for a gig, Miller said he wasn't necessarily searching for a technocrat. He wanted someone who could translate the benefits of the city's planning work to the masses.

Ruiz had worked as a news intern, freelance writer, staff writer and editor since June 2000 at the Stranger in Seattle and the Mercury. In her cover letter for the job, Ruiz said she could apply things she'd learned as a reporter about urban planning to a job in the mayor's office.

Ruiz said her reporting about Adams' relationship with the 18-year-old, Beau Breedlove, never came up in the interviews with Miller or Lisa Libby, Ruiz's direct supervisor now.

Miller and Libby said they never talked about Breedlove among themselves or with Adams. "Beau Breedlove was history," Miller said.